We
take a closer look at Ubisoft Montreal's next possible
gaming masterpiece by
Patrick Evans

July
13, 2006 - Pop
culture has been good to the Crusades; careful not
to completely murder it as other time periods have
been (note: WWII). When we do finally see a game set
in this time, we get a special treat involving acrobatic
character movement, sweet counter-based combat, and
an environment that acts as real as any videogame
we've ever seen.

That,
in a nutshell, sums up Assassin's Creed, the upcoming
action/adventure/sandbox-medieval assassination simulator.
Developed by Ubisoft's Montreal studio, this title
takes a few familiar numbers from Prince of Persia,
Thief, and any open-ended adventure game you can think
of, and puts you in the position to change the political
and military outlook of the 12th Century Middle-East.

Players
will experience Jerusalem during the Third Crusade
as assassin Altair, brother to a sect of warriors
that attempt to stabilize the region by eliminating
the leadership of both sides of the conflict. In fact,
the brotherhood featured in this game is taken directly
from the sect that had been coined "assassins."
Ubisoft gets points for historical references!

These
environments look unlike anything we have ever seen
in videogames thus far. Teams of civilians react to
everything that Altair does, whether it is slinking
through a crowd quietly or otherwise. Take, for example,
Altair creeping through a market in search of his
target. If he quietly surveys his situation without
doing anything to warrant extra attention, the surrounding
civilians will think none-the-wiser and continue about
their day. If he, on the other hand, drops from a
rooftop on the streets below, surrounding NPCs will
stare in amazement, some choosing to flee or defend
themselves to your overly-aggressive maneuver. Even
worse, guards will take notice of such activities
and be all over you before in short order.>

Assassin's
Creed has been designed with a sort of "urban
camouflage" in mind. If there is a crowd listening
to a public speaker or watching a public show, Altair
can gently nudge his way through a crowd, much like
you would politely maneuver through a Dave Matthews
concert or something. This calls no attention to any
guards in the area and, if you have the time, is the
optimal mode of stealth movement. However, if your
mark is making an exit, or time is otherwise running
short, you can shove through the crowd and towards
a quick kill.

Any
good assassin, ninja, or CIA agent knows that the
escape is more important than the actual kill. After
all, slaughtering a military general, religious leader,
or other high profile mark, in broad daylight is likely
to piss off more than a few people. In escaping, or
interacting with the world in general, just about
anything is possible given the right frame of mind
and understanding of physics. Plenty of attention
has been given to "climbing physics." In
this world, anything that juts out from a wall two
inches or more can be scaled. Why settle for the ladder
leading to that axe-wielding executioner when you
can climb up that tavern wall using the awnings, tavern
sign, and window sills? The physics behind Altair's
movements are super-realistic, allowing players to
perform sweet acrobatic leaps and hangs. On the other
side of the coin, players are reminded of their mortality
by increasing your tendency to fall as your speed
increases. In other words, you can scale a wall like
no one's business, but if you take a decent shove
while running you will be put on your back.

The
combat engine is mostly based on reversal maneuvers.
For example, if you do come face-to-face with a guard,
you could go swiping away at him, but you would most
likely be cut down for your lack of finesse. Instead,
it helps to let the guard make his first move and
use your superior speed and agility to perform wicked-cool
combos, with or without a weapon in hand. With this
style of combat, one-on-one encounters should be little
challenge, but large crowds will be difficult to manage.

There
has been a little speculation with this title as the
E3 demo that was given behind closed doors showed
a "game over" screen that looked like a
futuristic HUD that was totally out of place given
the rest of the game's atmosphere. Perhaps Ubisoft
has something up its sleeve for players later on?
Or maybe, this is just a smokescreen that means little,
or even nothing. Only time will tell.